


Hope is not lost

by Galadrielkenobi



Category: Far Cry: New Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, seed family deserves better fight me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-06-24 02:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19714399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadrielkenobi/pseuds/Galadrielkenobi
Summary: Carol and Rush came to Hope County to help Kim and her people. But then things goes wrong really fast.This is a far cry new dawn au fic where all the seed family members live.My ocs are;Carol -> Captain of securityMaria -> Deputy / The Judge





	1. Chapter 1

Things weren’t going as smothly as Carol thought it would. She was sitting down on grass and thinking about what she brought herself and Rush into. The two of them were the only ones to survive from the crash and Rush was captured by the twins at first. She was able to set him free but their work wasn’t over yet. Rush sat next to her “ Hey Cap, how are you holding up?”  
Carol sighed deeply “ You know, it’s been really hard, but I get by. How is your leg?”. It looked fine to her but from his face she can see that it wasn’t fully healed yet.  
“ It’s okay Cap, don’t worry about it. You have a lot to do anyways, you shouldn’t worry about me “.  
“ You are like a family to me Rush. You are all I have, of course I’m going to worry about you “.  
Rush didn’t realize that he meant so much to Carol. He felt his cheeks were burning. “ I guess you are going to head up soon” he said and changed the subject.

“ Yeah, there are still so much to do. But Rush, something has been bothering me, about the Twins “ Carol said. Rush could see the worry in her eyes.  
“ I know that they are strong and they are unpredictable. But we can do this Cap. I believe in us, I belive in you” Rush said.  
“ I’m glad that you have faith in me Rush. But I have this feeling that I’m going to lose you to them” Carol said and a tear dropped from her eye.  
“ Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m here with you. You saved me from them, and they will never get me that easily” he took her hands and looked at her eyes. “Please don’t cry” he wiped the tear from her cheeks.

“It’s just... I have been seeing this nightmare every night and I’m scared.  
Rush hugged her tightly “ Don’t worry Cap. Even something happens to me, I know that you have my back”.  
“ I can’t save everyone Rush, I have my limits” she stand up “ I... I need to go. I’ll see you later Rush. Please take some rest, you are gonna need it”  
“ See you later Cap” Rush said and watch her leave the Prosperity with Nana. He hoped that her worries wouldn’t distact her from danger.

“ Are you ready Nana? “ Carol asked.  
“ I’m always ready kiddo but the question is, are you?”. They were waiting outside an enemy outpost, ready to take it from them.  
“ I’m ready Nana, let’s go” she took a step and immediately Nana stopped her. Carol looked at Nana and said “ Nana, what are you doing?”  
“ Honey, you are not ready to take this outpost”.  
“ What do you mean? Look at me, I have everything I need”.

“ No, I mean your head is not here. If you go out there thinking about Rush, you are gonna get yourself killed and Rush wouldn’t like that now”.  
Carol sighed “ How did you know?”  
Nana started laughing “Oh dear, it’s so obvious, anyone can see it in first glance, well except Rush I guess, since he is still unaware of your true feelings”.  
“ I don’t know what to do Nana... What should I do?” Carol asked.  
“ That’s an easy question, just tell him about your feelings!”

“ Nana, that’s not easy. He is really close to me and if he doesn’t feel the same, our relationship can go south real fast”.  
Nana looked dissapointed “ I can’t believe you are scared to confess someone of your true feelings. What are you, a teenager? A chicken? “  
“ Nana don’t, that’s not funny” Carol said, she was getting mad.  
Nana started dancing around “ Oooh look at me, I’m a teenager and I can’t show my emotions without getting embarrassed”.  
“ Nana what the hell? You do realize we are close to an enemy outpost? They are going to see us! You are being childish right now” Carol whispered.

Nana stopped dancing around “ You mean like you?”.  
Carol sighed “ Okay, fine, fine. I’ll talk with him okay! Are you happy now?”  
“ Trust me kiddo, in the end you are going to be a lot happier than me” Nana said.  
“ Hey I see someone out there! “ a voice came from not far away.  
“Shit, they saw us. Goddamnit Nana, I guess we have to do this the hard way”  
“ I hope you are ready now kiddo, I don’t want to tell Rush that you died because of stupid reasons”

After a few enemy reinforcement, they were able to capture the outpast. After that, they decided to return to prosperity. When they returned, they were greated by a crowd who was having a good time. The people were sitting around, eating and drinking. Everyone was here.  
“What is going on Nana?” Carol asked.  
“Don’t ask me kiddo, I don’t have all the answers to life”  
Kim turned her gaze to Carol “Oh you are here, just in time?” she took her hand and dragged her to the plates with food.  
“ Kim, what is going on?” Carol asked.  
“ We decided to have a dinner party to boost some morale” Kim said and looked around “ and it’s working” she took a plate and put some food on it “ Here take this, and there are some beer over there” she pointed at a table.  
“ Thanks Kim, this is exactly what I needed right now” Carol said.  
Kim smiled “ Don’t mention it. You have done so much for us and it’s the best we can repay you”.  
Carol took a beer and take a sip.  
“ Hey Cap, are you having fun? “ Rush asked.  
“ Yeah, I guess. I feel better now. Thanks for talking with me this morning”.  
“ Don’t mention it” 

“ Actually, there is something I need to tell you about. It’s really important” Carol said. She was feeling really nervous but she thought this would be a good time to tell and she didn’t wanted to wait any longer.  
“ What is it Cap, you can tell me anything” Rush said. He sounded curious.  
Carol take a huge sip from her beer.  
“ Slow down there Carol”.  
“I’m fine Rush, I need this. So here is the thing, I-“ her words were cut by the sounds of gunshots. They both looked at air and saw firework

“ The twins “ both of them said.  
“ Goddamnit” Carol mumured.  
“ Carmina get the kids inside!” Kim shouted.  
“I’m on it!” Carmina said and turned to Carol “ Come with me, I need your help”.  
Carol take another look at Rush before going.  
“ Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere” Rush said.

They exited the gates of Prosperity and they immediately saw the twins, Mickey and Lou.  
“ Sorry to crash your party “ Mickey said. There were some kids standing next to them.  
“ What do you want?” Carmina asked.  
“ I think we made it clear what we wanted in first place” Lou said.  
“We are not giving Rush to you” Carol shouted.  
Mickey rolled her eyes “ No, not that rabbit, we don’t want your boyfriend anymore”.

“ We told you that we don’t want any problems around here, and you guys have been causing us trouble every fucking single day” Lou shouted.  
“ And we told you what we do to problem makers. We made it very clear. But you didn’t listen to us” Mickey said.  
“ No, no you didn’t. Instead you tried to play the fucking hero and tried to spread hope around here” Lou said.  
“ And we can’t have that now can we? We are gonna show all of you that how much of a curse your help is “ . Mickey said and both of them sat back on the truck.  
“ Just don’t be here when we come back” Lou shouted and they left. The kids ran to Carmina and they were looking really scared.

“ It’s okay, just get inside kids” Carmina said and tried to calm them.  
“ What happened there?” Kim asked.  
“ They are gonna come back, with more people” Carol said.  
“ We have to get ready. Carol, I send a scout while you were talking with the twins. Can you go and check him? We have to know exactly when will they come back”  
“ Okay, just... you guys have to get ready quickly” Carol said.  
Kim and Carmina were already preparing for the upcoming assault. Carol turned around started walking to the gates.  
“Oh and Carol?” She turned her head and looked at Rush.  
“ We will have pleanty of time after this. Don’t worry about it”.

Carol smiled and left the Prosperity with Gina.  
“ Hey, what was that about?” Gina asked.  
“ It’s a... Oh nevermind, you will find out eventually” Carol said.  
“ Okay....” Gina said and looked confused.  
Carol quickly found the scout “ Have you seen them yet?” she asked.  
“ No, not yet. I hope they don’t come back soon”.  
After few minutes, they heard fireworks.  
“ Oh no, it’s them! You have to go Cap, you are faster!” the scout said. 

Carol started running and Gina followed her. Carol heard Rush’s voice through radio “ Carol, wee need you! Come back quickly!”  
“ I’m on my way Rush” Carol shouted.  
“ This is going to be fun” Gina said while laughing.  
“ I’m really terrified of you Gina, I hope you know that” Carol said.  
“ Yeah I know” 

They came back to Prosperity. The highwaymen were already there and more were coming. The others were holding up though, they all seemed in good shape, for now at least.  
“ I’m sorry Cap, I can’t open the gate for you just yet. There are too many of them” Rush shouted.  
“ It’s okay Rush, don’t worry about me” Carol shouted back. After Carol and Gina killed a couple of higwaymen, the gates were open to them. Both of them entered and get top of the gate, next to Rush.  
“ You okay Carol?” he asked.  
“ I’m okay Rush. How are we holding up?” Carol looked around. Some people were injured but there weren’t any major injuries.  
“ We are doing okay but I don’t know how long we can hold this up” Rush said.

30 minutes later, they started getting tired. They were just keep coming and coming.  
“What the hell?! How many of them are out there?!” Carol was frustrated.  
“ I think they reached their limit as well” Rush said and pointed to one of the highwaymen.  
“ Okay that’s it! New plan people, we are setting the house with explosives” he shouted.  
“We have to regroup infront of the house. We can’t let them destroy our home” Rush said. Both of them ran infront of the house. The others were also next to them. The highwaymen started entering inside of prosperity. Carol shot every single highwaymen that come in her sight. Then she saw a highwaymen coming from back and aiming his gun at Rush.  
“ Get down Rush!” Carol shouted. Rushed looked behind him but he was too late to react. She immediately jumped infront of Rush and pushed him to the ground. She felt a strong pain. When she looked, she saw blood coming from her stomach. Gina immediately shot that highwaymen.

“ Carol!” Rush shouted and catched her with his arms.  
“ Stay with me Carol!” Rush shouted.  
“ Rush I... shit...” Carol started coughing blood.  
“ Goddamnit I need a medic here!” Rush shouted. The highwaymen started scattering around.  
“ Rush... I need to say something.. to you...” Carol said.  
“ Please don’t waste your energy” Rush said. Tears were falling from his eyes.  
Carol put her hand on Rush’s cheek “ Rush... I.. I love... you” her hand fell to the ground.  
“ Carol, please stay with me! Carol! Carol, I need you!” Rush started crying. Selene come immediately.  
“ Rush, quickly bring the Captain. The highwaymen are gone!” she shouted.  
Rush quickly brought Carol to Selene’s clinic. He gently lay her to one of the bed. 

“ Thank you Rush. Now you have to leave this area. I have people that I need here. Just wait outside, I’ll save her” Selene said.  
“ Promise me doc. Please, you have to save her!”  
“ I... I can’t promise anything Rush” Selene said.  
Rush left Selene to her work. He didn’t want to waste her time by talking. Outside, Carmina and Kim were waiting.  
“ How is she? Is Selene gonna save Carol?” Kim asked.  
“ I... She is going to try. She didn’t gave any promises” Rush said. Carmina started crying “ This is all my fault! I shouldn’t have asked help from you guys”. Kim hugged Carmina and said “ You are being too hard to yourself Carmina, it wasn’t your fault!”

“ I should have been the one...” Rush mumured.  
“What is it Rush?” Kim asked.  
“I should have been the one that get shot, not Carol... “ Rush said.  
“ She really cares about you Rush. She is really important to you... Sometimes I think she cares more about you than herself” Carmina said.  
“ Don’t blame yourself either Rush” Kim said.  
“ But it was my fault! If I wasn’t an idiot back there, this wouldn’t have happened!”  
“ Rush... “ Kim tried to reach out to him but he take a step back.

“ Don’t touch me Kim. I know what happened there. It’s all my fault. I should have listened Carol from the beginning”  
“ What’s that supposed to mean?” Carmina asked.  
Rush sighed “ It means that we shouldn’t have come here in the first place. Carol knew that there was something wrong with the highwaymen. She knew that you, Carmina didn’t tell the whole truth about them. She asked me to rethink my decision. She realized that there was something else going on and I didn’t listen to her. I should have listened to her”.  
“ Aren’t you are being a little too harsh on Carmina partner? It wasn’t her fault, she just wanted help” Nick said. They didn’t realized that he was listening the conversation.

“ No dad, he is right. I’m really sorry Rush. I wish I could change the past but I can’t. The only thing I can do now is hope that she will survive” Carmina said.  
Rush didn’t say anything back. He didn’t had any energy left. Selene exit the clinic “ I have some news”.  
“ What is it doc? Is she gonna make it?” Kim asked.  
“ She lost a lot of blood so we are gonna need some blood. Anyone know her blood type because, there is no way I can test it right now and I need to hurry up” Selene said.  
“ 0 negative. I can give my blood “ Rush said.

“ Okay good, come along now” Selene said and dragged him to the clinic. Selene took some blood out of him and turned back her attention to Carol. After she was done with Carol she brought some snacks and juice for Rush “You need this to gain some strength”  
He took the snacks and the juice “ You shouldn’t worry about me doc. Make sure she is okay”  
“ Ah, don’t worry about her now. She is gonna make it, thanks to you”  
“ I’m glad to hear that. Hey doc, can I stay here? It would be better if I stay here” Rush said.  
“ Yeah sure. You need to rest as well, because you know, I just took a lot of blood out of you” Selene said and left the clinic.  
Rush stood next to Carol and kissed her cheek “I love you too”. He thought he saw a slight smile on Carol’s face but that was impossible. But he hoped that she heard him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to write comment and leave a kudos if you like it!  
> I'm going to write about new eden in the next chapter! :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carol finally heals from her wounds and decides to seek help from New Eden to fight against the highwaymen and the twins with Carmina. They will find out what happened to the deputy.

It’s been more than a month now... or 2 months? Maria lost counting while she was stuck in one of the highwaymen outpost. Why was she captured? Because she tried to save a friend. She didn’t know the twins were that powerful. They made a mistake and now Maria was paying the price. It was fine to her, as long as John was okay. Carmina approached to her when Nick was captured by the Twins.

“ Please, I’m begging you, save my father!” Carmina cried out.

She could hear her crying even now. Of course Maria was going to help her. She had to. Nick and Maria were good friends. Even when Nick questioned her choices back before the collapse. She didn’t blamed him. He had every reason to question her, but that was now in the past.

“ You have no idea how powerful they are Judge. We can’t just march there and get Nick back” Jacob said.

He was right, but she didn’t had a choice. They had to take him back.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

“ What the fuck both of you were thinking, coming here, sneaking around like some sort of secret agent” Mickey shouted.  
“ The rabbits never learn. They never learn that they are weak, that they are meat” Lou shouted.  
Maria looked at John and Jacob next to her. They were beaten up and laying on the ground.  
“ So what are we gonna do with you now?” Mickey said and looked at them.  
“Just take me!” Maria shouted.  
“ Uh? And why we should do that?” Lou asked.  
“ Because coming here was my idea! They just followed me! Please, just let them go!” Maria said.

“ What... Maria... no” John tried to talk but he was badly injured.  
“ Well, these old man are not use to us anyway. So I guess we can let them go” Mickey said.  
“ Fine, I guess we are not gonna have fun... You two heard us, now go! Run away rabbits and tell your people about us. Cross us like that and you will end up worst” Lou said.  
Jacob got up and started dragging John “ Come on brother”  
“ What?! You can’t be serious, we are not leaving our Judge here!” John shouted.  
“ Look around you idiot! We have no chance! We have to leave, now!” Jacob shouted.  
Mickey kicked Maria to ground again and again. John tried to reach but Jacob didn’t let him go.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

After few weeks later, Carol finally opened her eyes. When she looked around, she saw Rush was sitting next to him.  
“ You are finally awake Captain” Rush said with a big smile.  
“ Hey Rush, how long I was sleeping?” She asked.  
“ Not that long cap, just a few weeks”.  
“ Damn... How are we holding up? Is something happened while I was asleep” Carol asked.  
“ Nothing much happened. The twins didn’t do anything to impact us. Since you were gone, we couldn’t do much to piss them off”.  
“ Well, I guess that’s kinda good news” 

Rush slightly laughed “ I guess you can call that a good news. But Cap, our work is not done yet. We are gonna need help. Have you heard about this group called The New Eden?”  
“ I think I heard about them. At least saw some their people around. What about it?”  
“ Well they were causing a lot of trouble to the highwaymen. Especially at night. And you can’t believe it, but they would use bows only. And they would had no problems taking out a few highwaymen then dissapearing in mist”  
“You mean like a ghost” Carol laughed “ That seems a bit unbeliveable Rush”  
“ I have seen them Carol. Trust me, we need these people if we want to beat Highwaymen and we don’t have another choice”  
“ Well if you say so Rush. I guess I’ll talk to them once Selene says I’m good to go”.

Selene decided that she will be good to go after 3 days of rest. Carol was really greatful that doc didn’t asked her to rest for a longer time. In these 3 days, Kim gave her some information about the new eden and what they were like back before the collapse.  
She told the story about the Deputy, how she came to hope county and how she changed Father and his views. How they turned to a peaceful group from an evil cult. 

“ Carmina asked the Deputy to save Nick, but I guess they failed or something happened with the family since we didn’t heard anything about them ever since. I don’t blame them honestly. They don’t have any real weapons, they are a peaceful group. But I’m worried because there used to be communication between us and that’s gone now”.  
“ I’ll ask what happened Kim. Maybe it’s because of the twins. They might think that both of the groups were plotting against them. Don’t worry about it, I’m sure they are okay”  
“ I hope you are right. Maria did so much, sacrificed so much for us”.

3 days passed and Carol was feeling a lot better “ Allright, I’m good to go. So who is going to come with me... Gina?” she looked at where Gina was sitting.  
“ No fucking way dude. They are fucking creepy, I don’t wanna go near them” Gina said.  
“ Okay, I guess... Uhh.... “ Carol looked around.  
“ Don’t look at me dude. I’m sorry but I’m not gonna come with you either. Deputy might be cool with them but I’m not” Hurk said.  
“ Damn, none of you wants to come?” Carol looked around to see someone who willing to come with her.  
“ I’ll go. I don’t have any problems with the Seed family and I need to know if Aunt Maria is okay” Carmina said.

“ Hey Cap, aren’t you forgetting something?” Rush shouted from her behind. Carol turned around and walked towards him “ Hey Rush, I’m heading up. I’ll see you later” she kissed him gently.  
“ Good luck Carol. Please bring us good news” Rush said. Carol was able to open up more about her feelings towards Rush and he also felt the same way.  
“ You two are really cute, you know that?” Carmina said. Carol smiled but didn’t say anything becuase she still didn’t like showing her emotions to others.

They started their journey to the north. There were a couple highwaymen on the road but they didn’t bother them.  
When they reached the gates of New Eden Carol saw something, something like a ghost.  
“ You are here to seek help from us?” she said and suddenly dissapeared.  
“ Uhhh, did you see that just now?” Carol asked.  
“ I didn’t see anything Cap. Are you okay?”  
“ Yeah, I’m okay. I guess it was nothing”.  
“ You are the one” the voice talked again. Carol tried to ignore it and knocked the gate.  
“ We are coming from the prosperity, please open up!” Carmina shouted. A young girl, probably around her 20s like Carmina opened the gate.

“ Hey Carmina, what are you doing” she said and looked at Carol “ Who is your friend?”  
“ This is my friend Carol, people usually call her Cap or Captain. She helped my people for the past few weeks against the highwaymen. Listen Kyrie, we need your help. Let us talk with Joseph Seed”  
“Well, the Father isn’t here anymore. But someone else can help you. Come on in”  
Both of them entered. The place looked peaceful and ancient, like how Kim described it to Carol.  
“ What do you mean Joseph is not here?” Carmina asked.  
“ It’s... complicated. Ethan has been looking out for our people ever since the Father left. The others; Aunt Faith, Uncle Jacob and my dad John are also helping Ethan. Carol saw the women that she saw infront of the gate. She had short blonde hair and she was looking directly at her “ Welcome to new eden”.  
They passed a few tents and then Kyrie showed a bigger tent “ Ethan is there. Maybe you should go there alone. My dad and uncle are probably there as well. I’m sure they will help you out”.

She entered inside and saw A portrait of a man who she assumed was Joseph Seed. She walked towards it then she heard a few steps behind her. When she turned around, she saw three man.  
“ Who are you? What are you doing here?” one of them said.  
“ I’m Carol, most people now me as Cap and I’m with I’m seeking help against highwaymen ”  
“ And you think we can help you? Do you even know who we are?” the other one said. He looked a lot older.  
“ Kim told me all about you. The highwaymen isn’t just a threat to us, it is a threat to you as well “  
“ So you are with the prosperity? And why we should help you?! It’s all their fault that Maria got captured!” another one shouted.

“ Calm down brother” the older guy said and turned to Carol “ Listen outsider, you are right about the highwaymen. They are a pain in the ass to us as well. But we can’t just help you, you have to help us. But first let me introduce myself, I’m Jacob” he pointed the guy that was shouting to her just now “ That’s my brother John” and then he pointed at the guy in the middle “ And that’s Ethan, my older brother Joseph’s son”.  
“ I know what you are asking for stranger. You want to talk with my dad and learn our secrets, but I can’t do that easily” Ethan said.  
“ First, you have to show us that you are also willing to help. You are going to rescue our Judge, Maria” John said.  
“ Wait, what are you guys talking about? What happened to the Deputy?” Carol asked.

“ So Kim told you about her? We tried to rescue Nick but we got outnumbered and Maria made a bargain that saved me and my brother’s life. We haven’t heard anything from her in months” John said, he looked in pain.  
“ Damn, I was hoping that she would be here” Carol said and started thinking solutions “ Do we know anything about her location?”  
“My hunters reported to me that she is hold captive in broken forge ” Jacob said.  
“ Broken forge... I’ll head there immediately” Carol said.  
“ Rescue her and you will gain our trust Captain” John said.

Carol left the tent and found Kyrie and Carmina talking “ Hey, how did it go?” Carmina asked.  
“ Carmina, we have some trouble. It turns out that the Deputy isn’t here”  
“What do you mean? Where is Aunt Maria?” Carmina turned her eyes to Kyrie but she didn’t answered.  
“ She is captured Carmina. They got her when she tried to rescue your dad” Carol said.  
“ No... How?” Carmina asked, tears were falling from her eyes.  
“ They were outnumbered. I heard from my Uncle that she saved my dad and him. There wasn’t anything they could do at the time” Kyrie said.  
“ But it’s been months, why didn’t you guys tried to rescue her?” Carmina asked.

“ We tried but you know, we can’t capture that outpost without real guns” Kyrie said.  
“ Carmina look at me” Carol said and took her hand “ We are gonna capture that outpost, we are gonna find your aunt and she is going to be fine, okay?”  
“ Yeah, she will be fine. I believe in her” Carmina said.  
“ I’m going to come with you” Kyrie said.  
“ Kyrie, you don’t have....”  
“ She is my mother goddamnit, of course I’m going to come with you” Kyrie cut Carol’s words.  
“ Oh, well okay then” Carol said and the three of them take their leave.

“ So is it just me or, this place looks more reinforced than the other outposts that we took out” Carol said while looking through her binoculars.  
“ Well they are keeping my mother here, so It’s no big surprise. If it there were only few guards, we would have taken the outpast months ago” Kyrie said.  
“ Yeah, I guess you are right... What are we gonna do then? Maybe we should approach with stealth. The enemy reinforcements might be a pain in the ass” Carol said.  
“ And there is a chance that the word might go out to Mickey & Lou” Carmina said.

There were so many highwaymen around so they had to be extra careful. Carol saw some notes while taking out the highwaymen one by one. One of them this was written;  
“ Tell the twins to come here. This old lady is causing us trouble. She tried to escape 5 times today, we need more man”. Seems like the Deputy was causing a lot of trouble to them.  
They manage to take down all of the highwaymen without them noticing. Carol looked around and saw some cages way back. When she started approaching, she saw a women laying in one of tha cages. She shouted their names and both of them looked at Carol, she pointed at one of the cages and said “ She is there!”. All of them ran to that cage. 

When they reached to the cage, they see Maria in a really bad shape.  
“ Oh no” Carmina whispered. Carol shot the lock with her pistol and opened the cage. Maria was still not responding. Carol reached up to her and checked her pulse. She turned her face to Kyrie and Carmina “ She is alive, but unconscious. She probably didn’t eat or drink enough for the past few months”.  
“ Thank god she is still alive! We have to take her to prosperity” Carmina said.  
“ Wait, is that even a good idea? There are some people there that will not be happy about this” Kyrie said.  
“ We are far away from New Eden Kyrie, the deputy doesn’t have much time left!” Carol said.  
Carmina reached out to Kyrie and said “ I know that some people are still bitter about what happened but they care about the deputy. I’m sure they don’t mind. Besides we don’t have much choice”. Kyrie smiled to Carmina and said “ Okay”. They head back to prosperity.

Carol and Kyrie were carrying Maria and Carmina was next to them.  
“ Hey, open the gates!” Carmina shouted. The gates were opened for them and Nick was waiting.  
“ Hey Carmina, how did it go?” he asked and then saw who Carol and Kyrie was carrying “ What the hell? Maria....”  
“ We don’t have much time Nick” Carol said and started carrying her to the clinic. Nick was following them “ What happened to her?”  
“ It’s a long story” Kyrie said. Carmina stopped her dad and started explaining him about what happened. Carol and Kyrie layed down the deputy to one of the bed. Selene immediately entered the clinic “ What’s going on? Who is she?”

“ She was held captive for a few months with little food and water” Carol said.  
“ Oh damn. Well, with the medicine I got here, she will be okay. By the way you didn’t told me who she is yet”  
“ Her name is Maria, but she is known as the deputy around here”  
“ Wait, “the deputy”! Holy shit my dude” Selene was in shock.  
“ Please doctor, heal my mother! I don’t want to tell my dad about her death” Kyrie said.  
“ Oh, yeah yeah, don’t worry about it! I saved Carol from a certain death, I’ll save your mother too” Selene said and showed the door to them which meant she needed an alone time with the deputy. Both of them exit the clinic and saw Kim, Nick and Carmina waiting infront of the door”

“ How is she? Is she gonna be okay?” Kim asked.  
“ Yeah she is gonna be okay” Carol said. Nick took a deep breath “ Thank god!”.  
“What are we gonna do now?” Carmina asked.  
“ We have to wait now until she is fully healed. We can’t just go back to new eden without the deputy, they will want to see her back as a proof and it’s not like we are running out of time” Carol said.

After a few seconds they heard a shout coming from behind the gate “Hey you! Open the goddamn door!”  
“ Is that John Seed’s voice?” Nick asked.  
“ Yeah, that’s my dad allright” Kyrie answered. Both Carol and Kyrie approached to the gate. Carol opened the gate and John immediately entred “ Where is my wife?”.  
“ Hey dad? Did you really just came all the way from north to just ask this question?” Kyrie said, she looked pretty amused.  
“ Oh hey darling, are you okay?” John asked and looked around her face and body to see if there were some injuries.

“ I’m fine don’t worry! And mom is also fine. She needs some rest and after that she will be back” Kyrie said with a smile. John turned his head to Carol “ Thank you so much for rescuing her Captain. I think you earned more than to see my brother Joseph”.  
Nick approached to John “ Hey John, I just wanted to-“.  
“ Your apology won’t change anything Nick. Thank to lord that she is safe, otherwise we would be having different conversation right now” John cut his words.  
“ John, please you are being too hard to Nick!” Kim said.  
“ No, he is right Kim. I would react the same way if I was in this situation” Nick said.  
“ Well, I’m glad we understand each other Nick. Now excuse me, I have to see my wife” John said and entered to the clinic.

Rush came from the main building “ What’s going on? Can’t I just get a 5 minute break?” he looked around and saw Carol “ Oh you are back? Do you have good news”.  
Carol approached him and said “ I guess I have some good news but not the kind that you are hoping for”.  
“ Oh? Go on...”  
“ When we reached New Eden, we found out that Joseph left his people. They know where he went but they will only tell me if I rescue the deputy Maria, which we did and she is now resting in the clinic”  
“ Goddamn. Well, it’s good that you saved her, we are going to need her help as well. But you need to find Joseph Carol”  
“ I know Rush. I’ll go head back there as soon as possible”  
“ You did good though. Rescuing the deputiy from a heavily reinforced outpast is no small feat”  
Carol felt her cheeks were burning “ Thanks Rush, I try my best”.

“ Hey people” Selene shouted from the door of the clinic. Both Rush and Carol turned their head to her “ She is awake, you should come and hear what she have to say”. Both of them ran to the clinic meanwhile Kim, Nick, Carmina and Kyrie followed them.  
They saw John sitting next Maria’s bed “ Thank to lord, you are awake my love” he planted a kiss to her forehead.  
Selene came close to Carol and whispered “ This is strange Cap. She recovered so fast, that shouldn’t be possible. Unless she is a superhero”.  
“ I guess it’s possible” Carol whispered back. 

“ John please stop being dramatic. I knew that someone would save me eventually” Maria said and looked at Carol “I’m guessing you are my savior. Thanks a lot”. Then she saw her daughter besides her “ Sweetpie, you are here too!” Kyrie sat on the floor next to Maria’s bed. Maria hold Kyrie’s hand “ I’m so glad to see you again mom!” Kyrie said with a smile.  
“It’s good to see you again sweetpie” Maria said with a big smile.  
“ It was nothing, don’t worry. If we are gonna fight against the highwaymen, we are gonna need all the help we can get. Especially powerful allies” Carol said.  
Maria turned her attention back to Carol “ Oh, you want us as your allies? Well, we also need help against the highwaymen, considering that most of us aren’t fighters. Yeah, that would be really beneficial. But I feel like that’s not all you are asking for...” Maria looked deeply into Carol’s eyes.  
“ Well yeah, we also need an edge to defeat the twins” Carol said.  
“ Oh, I know what you want. It’s not easy to get, what you are asking for. Only Joseph can help you with it. Did you talk to him yet?” Maria asked

“ Well, he is not in New Eden” Carol answered.  
“ What do you mean?” Maria asked and turned her head to John “ Honey where is the Father?”  
“ It’s complicated my love, I’ll tell you all about it later” John said.  
“ But who is in charge then? Ethan?” Maria asked again.  
“ Yeah Ethan is looking after our people and we are helping him” John said.

Maria sighed “ This is not good John. He is not capable of leading, he has too much pride. How did Jacob agree to this?”  
“ My love please, not infront of the outsiders” John said.  
“ Okay fine” Maria get up from the bed “ I’m ready to go back. I need to have some talk with Jacob. Hopefully, nothing will be in mess when I enter to our home” Maria pointed at Carol and Carmina “ You are coming with us”.  
Carol looked at Rush “ No rest for the wicked I guess” then turned back to Maria “ Okay, we will be ready in 10 min”.  
After 10 min they left the prosperity and started heading back to New Eden, weren’t aware what was going to happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading and I hope y'all enjoyed it! Feel free to leave comment and let me know how you feel about the story :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria finally finds joseph and brings him back to new eden. Ethan isn't too happy about that.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ Hey there, are you lost? “ a man approached to a girl. She was sitting on the floor in an abandoned comic book store. She didn’t answered his question nor she looked at his face. The man sat next to her “ If you need a place to stay we can help you”. Again she didn’t replied. She didn’t trusted the man. Too many people hurted her in the past, she didn’t wanted it to happen again. The man sighed “ Okay, I get it. You don’t trust me. Let’s start again” he pointed at himself “ I am Thomas Rush” then he pointed at the man standing next to him “ That’s Barnes”. Barnes didn’t say anything, as if he didn’t wanted to be there.   
Rush turned his head back to the girl “We are here looking for survivors. If you don’t have anyone, we can help you. We have food, a safe place to stay, beds. It’s a secure place”. The girl liked the offer but she didn’t know if she could trust him. “ Are you gonna tell me your name?” Rush asked. The girl didn’t answered. Rush sighed again and looked around. He saw a comic book laying down. He picked it up and saw that it was an issue of Captain Marvel. He compared the cover art with her face “ Huh, would you look at that, you two are really similar”. That comment took the girl’s attention.

“ Hmm, if you are not gonna tell me your name, then I’ll call you Carol. How about that?”.  
“ We are wasting our time here Rush. There is work to be done!” Barnes yelled.   
Rush turned his head to Barnes “ Just give me a few seconds goddamnit” then turned his head back to the girl “ Look, I don’t know what happened to you, but I promise that no one will hurt you again”. The girl knew that no one could keep a promise like that but still she wanted to believe it. Rush stood up and started walking towards to the door. The girl immediately stood up after him.  
“ Carol”  
Rush turned his head to her.   
“ I like that name” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ We are here!” Maria shouted. Carol woke up from the dream. It was the first time she met Rush. She was 20 years old and if he didn’t found her that time, she would have died from hunger. It was a treasure memory for her.  
“ Are you okay Cap?” Carmina asked.  
“ Yeah, I’m rested now” Maria said.   
“ Good, because you are going to need it” John said. They left the car and entered to new eden. A lot of people were happy to see Maria back safe and sound. One of them was Faith and when she saw Maria enter, she ran to her and hugged her.  
“ Maria, you are safe! I knew you would be safe!” Faith looked really happy to see her again.  
“ It’s good to see you too Faith. I missed you!” Maria said.   
Jacob approached to them “ You made us worried pup”. Maria let go Faith and hugged Jacob.

“ Easy there pup, I’m not that young anymore”  
Maria looked around “ Where is Ethan? How are people doing?”  
“ We are doing fine Maria. And Ethan is waiting for you” Jacob said.  
“ Oh yeah, I heard that Ethan is in charge now and the Father is gone.... Care to explain that to me Jacob?” Maria asked. She didn’t looked happy.  
“ Uhh, yeah about that....”   
“ Father left to hear the gods plan” Faith cut in the conversation.  
Carol looked really confused “ Gods plan?”  
“ That doesn’t mean that Ethan should be in charge, you know better Jacob!” Maria said and tried to keep her voice down.  
“ I know pup, but I didn’t had a choice. You weren’t here either. At least we can keep him under our control like this” Jacob said. 

“ Good, you brought my aunt back Captain” Ethan shouted from their back. All of them turned their head to Ethan.  
“ Yes. Can I see Joseph now?” Maria asked. Ethan approached to her “ Yes, but there is something you have to do first. I just can’t send you to north without you showing your worth”  
“ I saved your Judge, isn’t that enough?” Carol asked.   
“ I’m sorry but you have to light the fire of eden first. A few choosen is waiting for you. No one has been able to light the fire, if you can do it then the people won’t have a problem with you going to north” Ethan said.  
“ I guess I have no choice” Carol said. 

“ You have to do this task alone Captain. Oh and there is something I need to tell you important, alone” Ethan said and looked at others to leave them. The others went to their duties.  
“ I know that you are hoping to find answers but my father is dead” Ethan said.  
“ What?” Carol asked, she looked confused.  
“ My father has to be dead. If he was alive, he would have come back by now. I know he is dead. You are not going to find what you ask for. But if you gave me a proof of his death, then I’ll help you against the highwaymen” Ethan said.  
“ I... I hope it won’t come to that. It would be a waste of my time” Carol said.  
“ Don’t worry Captain, just trust me. I’ll help your people”   
“ Well there is only way to find out if he is still alive. I best get going” Carol said and started walking away.  
“ Good luck” Ethan said from her back. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ Father, we have to talk about Ethan...” Maria said. They were all standing inside of a big tent around Joseph.  
“ The kid is too arrogant. Doesn’t listen to us and doesn’t listen to you” Jacob said.  
“ He has too much pride in him...” Faith said.  
“ Which will be the end of us. End of New Eden” John continued after Faith.  
Joseph looked at each of them “ He is still growing up. I know that he can become better”  
“ Do you even hear yourself brother? You are obviously lying to yourself. This kid is going to bring us ruin and you know this!” Jacob shouted.  
“ Enough Jacob! This is my will and all of you will follow it. Ethan is going to be in charge of this place when I’m gone and you will look after him”. 

John sighed deeply “ The kid doesn’t listen to us brother! We just told you!”  
“ He will listen, don’t worry”.  
“ Well since that time isn’t gonna come any time soon, we should focus on more pressing issues... Like the highwaymen. What are we gonna do about them ” Maria said.   
“ They are not bothering us, so we are not gonna do anything about it. At least for now” Joseph said.  
“ But what if they become a danger to our people? We should make allies like prosperity!”   
“ If we approach them now, the highwaymen will become a threat to us... We can’t do anything” Joseph said.  
“ But....” Maria tried to speak but Joseph shut her up “ And that’s final Maria. I don’t want you and Jacob to raid their outpost ever again”.   
Jacob and Maria didn’t looked too happy but they didn’t argued.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carol was able to light the fires. After she exit the cave the choosen were looking really happy about it. They congratulated Carol and then left her for their duties. Carol returned to New Eden.  
“ You are back... does that mean it’s done?” Etahan asked.   
“ Yeah, I did what you asked” Carol answered. Ethan took her hand bring her around the people.   
“ Everyone, this stranger light the flames of eden! She is asking to seek help from the Father, but is she worthy?”  
“ If she light fires, then she is worthy” John shouted.   
“ But this is a stranger, not one of us” Ethan said.  
“ She is a friend to us now. She is worthy “ Jacob shouted.

Ethan looked at people, they were all agreeing with John and Jacob. Then he turned his head back to Carol “ It seems that people think you are worthy. Then it’s decided! You will go to north and bring our Father to us!”. Everyone started cheering and looked happy. “ Give the proof of his death and you will gain our support against the highwaymen” Ethan whispered to the Carol. He gave her a drink.  
“ What is this?” Carol asked.  
“ You have to drink this, if you want to survive in the north” Ethan said. Carol didn’t think anything of it and drank all of it. After few seconds she passed out.   
When she woke up again, she was laying on the ground in a dock and Ethan was waiting her to wake up.  
“ What happened to me?” Carol asked.

“ Don’t worry about it, you are fine” Ethan said. He pointed to a boat and said “ You have to take this and bring fire arrows with you. You have the light the fires around specific points to go safely to north, otherwise the bliss will kill you”.  
“ I thought the drink would be enough” Carol said.  
“ No, unfortunately it’s not enough. Be careful and don’t forget our deal” Ethan said.  
Carol was getting annoyed by Ethan. He was really eager to hear his own father’s death which raised some red flags.   
The journey to the north wasn’t easy, the bliss was intoxicating but still she managed to pass and reach to the place. Carol walked to a small cabin hoping to see Joseph. She entered to cabin and saw an old man sitting down.  
“ Joseph Seed?” Carol asked.

Joseph turned his head “ I waited so long for you to come and finally you are here” he approached Carol and gazed around her face “ I saw you in my dreams, I knew you would come to me”   
“ Right. I need your help for-“   
“ For the highwaymen. I know my child. You will get the help you need” Joseph said and took her hand. He started walking towards a big tree.  
“ You are going to be our shepard. I have seen it, you’ll destroy the highwaymen and the twins”.  
Carol looked really confused “ Shepard? What do you mean by that?”  
“ It means that you are going to be our savior” Joseph said and showed her the tree. He picked an apple from the tree  
“ This is a gift from god. I discovered this a long time ago. When I ate it, I saw a monster infront of me. I knew that I had to destroy it or it would have destroyed me” Joseph turned his head to Carol “ I’m giving you the gift of new eden. Once you eat it, you have to kill the monster that is inside of you. I’ll help you, don’t worry”. Carol looked nervous, but she had no other choice. She take the apple from Joseph and took one bite. Everything around her suddenly changed, Joseph was no longer next to her but she could still hear his voice “ You have to attack to its weak point”. The monster appeared infront of her and its weak point was glowing. It was a difficult fight but she was able to slay the monster with the help of Joseph. She woke up next to Joseph “ It’s time go back to New Eden”.

While they were walking towards the main tent, they started hearing shoutings.  
“ We can’t hope to see the father again. I’m sorry but he is not going to come back” Ethan shouted.  
“ Oh boy, he is gonna be really disappointed” Carol mumured. “ What is it my child?” Joseph asked, he looked confused.  
“ Your son was sure that you were dead. I think he really wanted me to find you dead” Carol said.  
Joseph sighed deeply but didn’t said anything. They started approaching to the crowd. They saw John, Jacob, Faith and Maria near Ethan.  
“ The Father is.... Father?” Ethan was startled by Joseph. The crowd were happy to see Joseph back, everyone was happy except Ethan. Ethan gave a look to Carol as if reminding her about their deal.   
“ The stranger brought our Father back!” Ethan shouted, he tried to smile but it was obviously fake.   
“ I came back and brought our shepard with me” Joseph said and pointed at Carol “ She will be our savior”.  
Ethan was in shock “ What?!”. Joseph turned his head to Ethan “ She is a stranger! You gave her the gift!” Ethan shouted.

“ Hey kid, we established that she is a friend to us and if my brother says she is our shepard, then she is our shepard” Jacob said.  
“ Shut up!” Ethan shouted then turned his attention back to Joseph “You left us alone! I didn’t know what I had to do and you weren’t here!”   
“ You had us Ethan! You weren’t alone, we helped you the best we can but you didn’t listened to us!” Maria said.  
“ I’m not talking to you!” Ethan shouted again.   
“ Be respectful to your elders kid or....” Jacob shouted.  
“ Or what? You can’t do shit!” Ethan shouted.   
“ Enough!” Joseph stopped them from starting a fight. Carol was just standing there, didn’t know what to do. Joseph hold Ethan and said “ I know that it was hard for you, I understand. I know that you sacrificed a lot....”   
“ No, you don’t understand. What did you ever sacrificed!” Ethan said. Joseph let go of him then suddenly Jacob punched Ethan’s face   
“ Brother stop!” Joseph shouted but he couldn’t stop Jacob. Jacob was on top of Ethan and he was beating him “ You piece of shit! Ungreatful! You don’t know anything!” Jacob shouted. John tried to stop Jacob from beating Ethan “ Stop it, this is not going to help us brother!”.   
Maria dragged Jacob from Ethan “ Just stop Jacob! Goddamn...”. Faith tried to reach to Ethan but he got up and left the area.

“ Oh this is not good” Carol murmured. Joseph sighed deeply and everyone else turned their attention back to their work.   
“ You get what you wanted Captain. My hunters will also help you against the highwaymen. Now it’s all up to you” Joseph said.  
“ Thank you. This is definently going to help us, hopefully” Carol said.   
Kyrie approached to them “ It’s good to see you again uncle... Can I ask something?”  
“ What is it Kyrie?” Joseph asked.  
“ I want to help the Captain in her journey. Can I go with her? I know I can help!”   
“ Maybe you should ask your own father first” Joseph said. Kyrie looked around and found her father “ Hey dad, can I go with Carol?”. John was having a conversation then he turned his head to Kyrie “Ask the father first. If he agrees then you can go with the Captain”. Kyrie turned her head back to Joseph “Please?”.  
“ Okay, you can go with the Captain, I think she might need your help”.  
“ I would be happy to see you in my group Kyrie” Carol said with a smile. 

Before they packed for leaving to Prosperity, John and Maria talked with Kyrie last time, made sure that she was ready.   
“ Be careful out there sweetpie” Maria said.  
“ I’ll be careful mom, don’t worry about me” then she looked around “ I haven’t seen Ethan ever since the fight, I hope he is not doing something he will regret later”.  
“ Don’t worry about Ethan. I mean what is he gonna do? He will not betray our people, even he can’t go that low” John said.  
“ I hope you are right dad” Kyrie said and left new eden with Carol.   
While they were driving to Prosperity, Carol noticed that Kyrie looked worried.  
“ You okay Kyrie? I guess this is going to be your first time far away from new eden” Carol said.

“ I’m mostly worried about Ethan, he is very unpredictable. God knows what he will do after the things that happened”.  
“ Yeah he seems unstable to me. You know he was really looking forward to hearing his own father’s death. My guess is that he just wants to rule new eden alone. He didn’t seemed to like Jacob or John either”.  
“ Well, he thinks that they don’t get him. He is an angsty teenager. I don’t know why my uncle would make him the leader when he was gone. I was sure that uncle Jacob would be our leader or at least my dad. Maybe he just have too much faith in Ethan”.  
“ Well let’s just focus on the highwaymen for now. Don’t worry about Ethan, hopefully he will understand that we are trying to save people here”.

Rush was waiting them outside when they reached to prosperity.  
“ You are back! Please give me some good news” Rush said.   
“ The New Eden is with us. And Joseph shared his secret with me” Carol said.  
“ That’s good. Finally some good news, we can go after the twins now”   
“ Yeah, but for now I really need a rest” Carol said. Kyrie found Carmina and started talking with her.   
“ You definently deserved the rest. I should go out and do some scouting” Rush said.

Carol looked anxious “ What? No don’t do that!”.  
“ What, why?” Rush asked, he was confused by Carol’s reaction.  
“ We are putting pressure to the twins now. They will definently come for you!” Carol said.  
Rush laughed “ Come on Cap, you are being paranoid now. Even if they come, I think I’ll be okay”.  
“ Please don’t go!” Carol said and hugged him. “ I need you here, just send someone else but stay here with me tonight, I need you”.  
“ I... Carol... “ Rush grabbed her chin “ Okay, I’ll stay here and send someone else”   
“ Thank you Rush “ Carol said and kissed him.

Carol was laying on Rush’s lap and they were gazing up to sky. “ Do you remember the first time we met?” Carol asked. Rush laughed and said “ Yeah I remember. It feels like just yesterday that I was trying to bring you to our group”.  
Carol looked at his eyes, they were so beautiful “ I’m glad that you didn’t gave up on me that day”. Rush smiled and kissed her lips “ Me too”. They continue to watch the stars.   
“ What do you think is going to happen? Do you think we can beat the twins?” Carol asked.  
“ I think we can do it. With the help of New Eden and the secret of Joseph.... By the way, what was the secret?” Rush asked.  
“ He gave me a magical apple and I ate it then I fought the monster that was inside of me. He says that I have magical powers now”.  
“ What?” Rush looked really confused.  
Carol laughed “ Well, he didn’t said magical powers but he did say that I become their shepard and their savior which I don’t know if it’s true. I have seen a lot of weird shit in New Eden that doesn’t make sense so, I don’t know, he might be right”.  
“ Kim did say that they were weird but damn, didn’t thought it would be that weird. How are you feeling?”   
“ I honestly don’t feel any different. If anything, I feel a lot better. I don’t know if that’s because of the fruit or because you are with me right now”.  
Rush smiled “ I’m glad that you are feeling better” and kissed her again. For a moment they forget about the highwaymen and just stared at the stars until both of them fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed the new chapter! :) Thanks for reading it! <3  
> Kudos and comments are appreciated! <3 <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's Carol's birthday and rush decides to throw a surprise birthday party for her.

The next day, Carol decided to liberate some outposts with Nana. Everything was goin great and both of them were doing fine. After a few liberated outposts, they decided to take a break. While drinking some water, Carol remembered something “ Oh, Nana do you know what day is it?” she asked.  
Nana started thinking “ If I’m not mistaken, today is Saturday, 4th of july.... Why did you ask kiddo?”   
“ Today is my birthday... Can’t believe I almost forgot about it...” Carol said.  
“ Happy birthday kiddo! How old are you now?” Nana asked.   
“ 30... No longer a kiddo...” Carol said.  
Nana laughed “ All of you are kiddos in my eyes. Did you plan to do anything for today?” she asked again.  
“ As if I had a time to plan anything... No, I didn’t plan anything nana. Even before coming to hope county, I always had missions to do, no time to plan things for birthday.  
“ Hmmm, maybe Rush planed something...” Nana said.  
“ I doubt it. He was even more busier than me back before coming here. I’m not expecting anything special. Maybe we will return earlier and drink some beer? That sounds nice...” Carol said.  
“ Not me! I will take some juice, thank you very much!” Nana said.  
Carol laughed “ Okay Nana, juice for you!”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Earlier...

“ Hey Rush I’m heading out! Don’t forget your promise, don’t leave the prosperity!” Carol said.  
“ Don’t worry about me Cap. Be careful out there and good luck” Rush and gave her a quick kiss. After Carol and Nana leave the prosperity, Rush looked for Kim. Thankfully she was already awake.   
“ Hey Kim, got a minute. There is an important thing I need to tell you” Rush said.  
Kim leave the papers that she was reading on the table and said “ Yeah, I have a minute”  
“ Today is Captain’s birthday” Rush said.  
“ Oh, that’s great! Did you plan something special?” Kim asked.  
“ I did, way before coming here. But I don’t think I can make that plan happen. I tried to think something else while I had free time, but couldn’t find anything. My gift is ready, and before you ask, yes I digged around the train wreckage to find the gift. So do you have any ideas?”   
Kim started thinking “ Well, we can just throw a party like we did before. There isn’t much to do here”.  
“ Yeah, you are right. That’s probably will be enough for Carol anyways. She might even forgot about her birthday with all the things are happening”.   
“ A surprise party. Well we should start working on it then. Who knows when Cap will come back”   
“Oh don’t worry about that. I talked to Nana and she is going to keep Cap busy. We will have enough time to prepare for the surprise birthday party”

“ A surprise bithday party?” Gina asked. Carmina was standing infront of others except Nana and just told them about the plan.  
“ Yeah, so you guys are gonna help?” Carmina asked.  
“ Hell yeah dude! “ Hurk immediately answered.  
“ Do we even have time for this?” Gina asked again.  
“ Come on Gina! Cap did so much for us, we should celebrate her birthday to show our appreciation!” Carmina said.  
Gina rolled her eyes “ Fine, I guess she deserves it. It might be a good time to get drunk”.  
“ I can invite mom and dad as well!” Kyrie said.  
“ Okay that sounds good, but don’t pressure them if they are busy” Carmina said. The others didn’t protest and started working.

“ A birthday party for Captain huh?” Maria asked.   
“ Yeah, people want to show their appreciation for her so they are gonna throw a surprise party” Kyrie said.  
“ We should go too John, she saved my life” Maria said.   
“ You are right honey. We should bring a present too, but what can we bring?” John said and started thinking.   
Faith heard them talking and approached them “ Here, give her this” she gave a book to Kyrie.  
“ The book of Joseph? Is this a good idea?” Kyrie asked.  
“ Maybe she likes reading? Who knows, we don’t really know much about her” Maria said.  
Kyrie sighed “ This is either going to be a decent or the worst gift ever”.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So Nana, wanna head back to Prosperity? Kinda looking forward for that beer...” Carol said.   
“ But... but we have more things to do!” Nana said.   
Carol looked confused “ I think we did pretty good today. Liberated a couple of outposts, helped some people, went on a treasure hunt... Nothing much left to do”.  
“ Oh, but... Hmm... Uh.... “ Nana tried to think something to keep Carol busy but she couldn’t think anything.  
“ Are you okay Nana? I thought you wanted to drink some juice...” Carol said.  
“ I just thought that it was a bit early to return and call it a day” Nana said.  
Carol laughed “ Come on Nana, today is my birthday! I think I deserve to go earlier than usual. Besides, I wanna spend some time with Rush”. Carol took Nana’s hand and started dragging her.   
“ But we didn’t even go fishing today!” Nana said.  
“ I don’t like fishing Nana, I thought you knew that” Carol said and get in the car. Nana followed her and didn’t say anything.

When they arrived at Prosperity, something felt different to Carol. It felt like everything was changed and she thought she heard some music.  
“ Hey what’s going on?” she asked and approached to the gate with Nana. One of the guards on top of the Gate saw them and said “ Oh hey Captain! You are earlier than usual”.  
“ Yeah well, I decided to call it a day” Carol said and then added “ Is everything okay there? Open the gate, please”   
“ Yeah, yeah everything is allright Captain! Everything is okay! Just give me a second” the guard said and quickly left.  
Carol looked confused “ Okay this is strange, I don’t think this ever happened before...” then she looked at Nana, which she didn’t say anything and avoided looking at her eyes.  
“ Huh, strange...” Carol mumured. She had some clues of what might be happening right now behind the gates, but she thought that would be impossible. A few minutes later the gates were opened and she immediately saw a lot of people, then they shouted “ Happy Birthday Carol!” . Carol actually looked surprised. She started having suspicions about a birthday party because of Nana’s behavior earlier but she thought it would be impossible because of people were busy all the time.  
“ I... Thank you so much!” Carol said. She started hugging everyone she saw and thanked them individually. Then she saw Rush, standing there with a big smile. She immediately ran and hugged him “ This was your idea I’m guessing?”   
“ Well yeah considering none of these people knew about your birthday” Rush said.   
Carol gave him a big kiss on the lips “ Thank you Rush”.   
“ Don’t mention it Carol. You definently deserved this”.

Everyone was having a good time. Carol tried to spend time everyone that attended the party, she was especially surprised to see the deputy and her husband here, considering they didn’t knew each other well. Maria gave their gift to Carol “ The Father and the others wishes you a happy birthday Captain”.  
“ Thank you!” Carol said and looked at the book that Maria gave it to her “ What is this?”.  
“ It’s the book of joseph. This book is really important for us, and my give you some insight about the father and rest of us” John said.  
“ Oh, that’s interesting. I’ll give it a read when I have time. Thanks again” Carol said and continue on talking with other people. She later noticed that Carmina and Kyrie were really close, almost like... they were in a relationship. She approached them and said “ So you two are...”  
“ Girlfriends? Yeah we are girlfriends” Carmina said with a smile.   
“ That’s really cute, sorry that I didn’t noticed it before” Carol said.  
“ Honestly, we couldn’t had any time for us, so it’s understandable that you didn’t notice it” Kyrie said.   
“ Well, there is time now. I should leave you guys alone” Carol said and she started looking for Rush. She saw him next to Kim and Nick. 

“ Are you enjoying the party?” Rush asked.   
“ Yeah, it’s pretty good. Thanks again Rush”.  
Carol noticed that Kim and Nick were both looking at Carmina. “ I think they are cute” Carol said.   
“ I’m really happy to see that our daughter found love even in times like this” Kim said.   
“ Yeah true. Seeing my daughter happy makes me happy too” Nick said.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile....

“ These people are not getting it!” Lou shouted. She and her sister Mickey weren’t too happy about Captain and Rush being a problem maker.  
“ We warned them once and then twice but they don’t get it! This ends here!” Lou continued.  
Mickey watched her sister “ What are we gonna do now sister? We can’t let them get in our way now, can we?”  
“No we can’t” Lou shouted, she looked really furious. She called some of the highwaymen “ Listen up! Capture Rush or Captain or both, I don’t give a fuck and also capture some of the other people from the prosperity as well. I have some plan, so just get them and wait form my order”. The highwaymen shouted yes and quickly left the room.  
“ What are you planning sister?” Mickey asked.  
Lou smirked “ You’ll see soon sister”.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the party was over, most of the people continue with their work and some of them left. “That was good Rush, I don’t think I’ll be having this kinda fun. Anways, we should go to sleep I guess, since there is ton of work to do” Carol said.  
“ Oh, wait a minute, I didn’t gave you my gift yet” Rush said.  
Carol smiled “ You don’t have to Rush! This party was already a great gift to me”.   
Rush took something under his jacket. It looked like a comic book... but wait, it wasn’t any ordinary comic book! Rush gave it to Carol and she immediately remembered it. This was the Captain Marvel issue that Rush found when they first met.   
“ I thought this would be a good gift” Rush said.

A tear dropped from Carol’s eye “ This is amazing Rush! Thank you so much!”  
“ How about reading it? I think this one was a special issue” Rush said.  
Carol looked a bit confused but still she opened the pages, and soon she saw a ring attached to one of the pages “ Huh?” she turned her head to Rush and saw him on his knees.  
“ Carol, I know this is probably doesn’t really matter in the nuclear apocalypse but, will you marry me?” Rush asked.  
Carol started crying. She would never imagined Rush and her ending up together and yet here they were. “ Yes! I’ll marry you!” she answered and hugged him tightly.   
Carol hoped that things would get better from now on, not knowing what the twins were plotting against them.

Next day, Carol woke up next to Rush. She placed a small kiss on his cheek and then started getting ready. She ate something quickly and left prosperity and later met with Kyrie.   
“You are early Captain” Kyrie said.   
“ Well, as much as I would love to sleep right now, we still have work to do” Carol said.  
A few minutes later she heard some noises coming from behind. She looked around and noticed highwaymen coming around them. Kyrie also noticed them. Soon, Carol felt something hit her neck “ What the fuck?!” she took it from her neck and noticed that it looked like a dart, after a few seconds she realized that it was a sleep dart. “ Kyrie, look out!” Carol shouted but Kyrie was already shot with the same sleep dart.  
“ This... doesn’t make sense... Highwaymen doesn’t... have... sleep dart... only... us” Kyrie said and fall asleep.  
“ That.... fucking Ethan...” Carol mumured and fall asleep.  
One of the highwaymen looked both of them and pointed at Kyrie, asked “ What are we gonna do with this one?”  
“ Leave her alone. Someone has to give the news to Rush. Besides, she is from new eden, they are not our targer yet” the other highwaymen said.  
“ What about Rush? Didn’t Lou wanted us to capture him as well?” another highwaymen asked.  
“ Doesn’t matter. She is enough and besides, Rush will come to rescue her anyway” the first highwaymen said.

Kyrie woku up alone, on the ground. She looked around and couldn’t find Carol. “ Oh no, this is bad! This is really bad!” she quickly stand up and found a car. She had to warn the others that Carol was captured. After few minutes, she came to Prosperity. The guard opened the gate without a question. Carmina looked happy to see Kyrie back “ Oh hey, what’s up? Did Cap had some other plans to do?”.  
“ They got her” Kyrie said.  
Carmina looked anxious “ What do you mean they got her? Who?” she stopped then her eyes widen “ the Highwaymen! How?”   
“ Is Rush here?” Kyrie asked and looked for him. She immediately spotted him where he usually works at. She approached him and said “ Rush, something happened”.  
Rush looked confused “ You were the daughter of the deputy right? What’s the problem? Does new eden needs our help?”.  
“ The highwaymen captured the Captain!” Kyrie said.   
Rush turned his head to Kyrie “ What! How did it happen?”   
“ They got around us. We expected them to start shooting but they shot us with sleep darts!” Kyrie said.

“ Sleep darts? Highwaymen doesn’t use stuff like that!” Rush said.  
“ Only the New Eden uses it...” Kyrie said.  
“ What does that supposed to mean?” Rush asked.   
“ It means that my cousin Ethan has betrayed us”.  
“ Fuck, shit! What the fuck!” Rush started walking up and down, looked furious and worried at the same time “ Where the fuck did they take her? Why the fuck is this happening now, as if we didn’t had any problems already!”.  
“ I’m sorry. I told my mom to watch out for Ethan, but even I wouldn’t guess he would go this low. And all for what? To get rid of his own father!”.   
Rush hear his radio buzzing, he opened it and heard Lou’s voice.  
“ Listen up Rush, we got your people, we got your captain! Come to punishment pass alone or I’ll kill your precious Captain myself!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed the new chapter! :)  
> Thanks for reading it! <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins caputeres Carol and Rush goes alone to Punishment Pass to save her.

Carol opened her eyes. She tried to move her hands but she was chained to the ground. She looked around and saw Mickey & Lou.  
“ Morning rabbit” Lou said while smirking.   
“ What do you want?” Carol asked.   
Mickey and Lou started laughing “ Oh I wonder what we want? Oh that’s right, your head!” Lou said.  
“ Let’s see if your new husband Rush gonna show up” Mickey said.  
Carol looked startled “ How do you know that?” she asked.  
“ Oh Captain, we know everything. I wonder how he would feel when he sees you getting shot on the head while doing nothing” Lou said and continued laughing.  
“ But first, he has other things to do. Let’s see if he can save other people” Mickey said.  
“ Y’all are psycho! Even if you kill me now, you won’t achieve anything! You will only make Rush furious” Carol said.  
“ Oh I think we will achieve a lot by killing you, and Rush is not gonna get out easily” Lou said.  
Carol cursed to herself. She let her guard down and now she was facing the consequences. Just yesterday, she was having the best day in her life and now... Now, she didn’t even know she could get out of this situation alive. 

Rush stared heading to the Punishment Pass immediately after the radio call from the twins. Kyrie and the others suggested at least take someone with him but he didn’t wanted to risk it. Mickey & Lou were serious and it would cause more harm than good. He cursed to himself. He blamed himself for not being good enough, not able to protect the people and his love Carol. He didn’t even wanted to think about her death, he already saw her almost die infront of him, not again.   
“ I worked so hard to get here, to build something from nothing and I’m not gonna let some bitch get on my way and ruin everything I build. I’ll not let them take my wife”.

When he arrived at Punishment Pass, he didn’t saw any highwaymen nearby. He immediately got a radio call from Mickey and she gave him instructions on what to do. There were people around that were stuck and they were attached with a bomb. He had to hurry up. It wasn’t difficult to find the key cards that will open the doors, which seemed a bit strange. He quickly rescued some of the people and some of them were already dead. Finally Lou radioed to him one last time “ Come upstairs Rush and leave your weapons in the bag”. He went upstairs and saw the bag laying close to a door. He left all of his weapons there and entered inside.   
When he entered inside, he immediately saw Carol on her knees. Lou and Mickey were next to her and they looked as if they were having a great time.  
“ See those chains on top? Tie yourself ” Mickey said.  
“ Fuck off” Rush said and added “ Just free her! I did what you asked me to do! You already killed some of our people, what else do you want?”  
Lou laughed “ I want to see you suffer Rush. I want to see everything that you build destroyed infront of you”   
Carol looked at him and said “ Rush... just go...”.   
Lou kicked Carol to the ground “ Shut up!”

“ Lay another finger on her and you are dead” Rush said.   
Mickey didn’t looked impressed “ I wouldn’t say that if I were you. Now, tie yourself, or else it won’t be good for your wife here”.  
Rush couldn’t get what they were trying to do and he didn’t had any choices left. He actually sneak a gun inside but he didn’t wanted to risk Carol getting killed. He tied himself with the chains.  
Lou smiled “ See, wasn’t that easy?” and she put Carol on her knees again. She reached for her pistol and pointed it at Carol.  
“ I’m sorry Rush...” Carol said before getting shot by Lou.  
Rush watched her fell to the ground. An intense fear and anger climbed inside of him. “ What the fuck did you do!” he tried to get out of the chains but it wasn’t working.   
“ See, look at you! Look how small you are from here! You couldn’t do shit and now your Captain, your wife is dead” Lou said and laughed.  
“ We warned you rabbit! If only you accepted our offer that day, none of this would happen!” Mickey said and hit him with her helmet.   
“ You are not gonna let me go, are you?” Rush asked.  
“ Nah, we are gonna beat you to death” Lou said and hit him again.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carol opened her eyes. She looked around but all she saw was darkness.  
“ Hello? Anyone there?” she shouted. But she didn’t get any answers. She was all alone here.   
“ Did I... Did I die?” she asked to herself. She remembered getting captured by highwaymen, then she saw the twins infornt of her in a room, and then she saw Rush... then darkness followed. “ Oh... Lou shot me infront of Rush... I remember now...”. She felt bad about Rush, she couldn’t imagine what he was thinking right now. Hell, she would feel the same way if he was shot infront of her.   
“ Your time hasn’t come yet” a voice echoed in the darkness.   
Carol looked confused “ Who is that? Where am I?” she asked.  
“ Wake up Carol and save Rush. You know what to do” the voice echoed again.  
“ Wait! How am I going to....” Carol said but her surroundings started changing

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carol opened her eyes. She was laying on the ground. She felt a strange heat surrounding her body. It almost felt like a pure energy was going inside of her. She looked at infornt of her and saw Rush on the ground and the twins were kicking him. He looked alive but if the twins continued the beating he would surely die. She looked at the chains that were holding her and she thought that she could break them with enough strength. She break one chain and then break the other one. She stood up and ran to the twins.   
Mickey and Lou turned their heads but it was too late. She already punched Lou to the ground. Mickey looked shocked “ What the fuck! How are you still alive, Lou shot you!”. Carol didnt answered to her and punched her to the ground. Lou immediately got back up and shot Carol again but it did nothing. “ What the fuck! What the fuck are you?” Lou tried to shoot her again but it didn’t effected Carol one bit. She kicked Lou to the ground again. Rush tried getting up and took out the gun that he was hiding. He shot Mickey on the ground.  
“ Rush you bastard!” Lou shouted and tried to shot Rush but Carol kicked her again. Mickey threw a smoked bomb on the ground “ Lou we have to get out of here! We will deal with them later!”. Lou took Mickey and run away from. Carol tried to see them through the smoke but they were already gone. Then she looked for Rush. She saw him sitting on the ground. Rush couldn’t believe what he saw earlier. 

“ Carol... I thought... shit...” a tear dropped from his eye “ I thought.. you died, right there infront of me...”.  
Carol hugged Rush “ I’m okay Tom, you didn’t lose me” she looked at his face “ How are you feeling? How are your injuries?”.  
Rush laughed “ You are the one asking? You got shot in the head and came back from dead Carol! And then Lou shot you, twice and yet it did nothing to you... What is going on Carol? Also do I even need to mention that you were glowing?”  
“ I... I don’t know. After Lou shot me, I opened my eyes to complete darkness. For a few minutes, there was nothing. I thought I was going to stuck there but then... I heard a voice and then I woke up, feeling much better”   
“ What the voice told you?”   
“ Your time hasn’t come yet... Wake up and save Rush”.   
Rush looked completely in shock “ I... Wow Carol. I don’t know what to say... This is so weird. Is it possible that you survived because of the secret you learned from Joseph Seed?” he asked. 

“ Well, it is possible”.  
“ Shit, they really saved you, and saved me... I should thank them when I get the chance” Rush stood up and by doing that, almost fell down to the ground. Carol immediatelt catched him with her arms.  
“ Hey there, slow down! You are still injured.” Carol said.   
Rush took her chin and kissed her.“ I really thought you were dead. Thank god you are still alive. I don’t know what would I do without you”.  
“ Try not to think about it Rush. I’m alive, with you and I’m never gonna leave you”.  
The sound of the door opening took their attention. They turned around and saw Maria, John and Kyrie.  
“ Are you guys okay?” Maria asked and approached to them.   
“ I’m okay Judge, but Rush is pretty injured” Carol said.  
John looked around “ What the hell happened here?” he asked.  
“ A miracle happened” Rush said.   
John looked confused “ What do you mean?”.

“ We will tell you what happened but first, Rush needs to get a medical help, he is pretty injured”. John helped Carol and carried him to the car.   
“ Let’s head to Prosperity” Maria said.   
“ Wait, hold on. We have to go to New Eden” Rush said.   
Maria and John turned their head to him. “ Why?” John asked.  
“ I need to talk with Joseph Seed” Rush said.   
“ If this is about Ethan, I already told mom and dad. You don’t have to worry yourself, we can handle him” Kyrie said.  
“ You don’t understand it... The situation might be more dire than you think” Rush said.   
“ What do you mean?” Maria asked.   
“ The twins... they saw me come back from dead. They also knew about my trip to the north. They will come for New Eden next” Carol said.  
“ And we need a plan. We can’t let the twins learn whatever the secret of new eden is, I saw what Carol can do and I wouldn’t want the twins to have the same power” Rush said.  
“ Shit...” Maria murmured then added “ Okay, we will take you to New Eden”.

A few hours later, they arrived at New Eden. Faith opened the gates for them “ Welcome back. I see that there is someone that needs a medical help” then she looked at Rush “ Your name.... Thomas Rush, but people call you Rush. I’ll help you” then she made a gesture to follow them. Carol and John left Rush in one of the tents. Faith sat next to him “ Don’t worry, I’ll make him better”.  
“ Thank you Faith” Carol said.  
Faith smiled “ You are our shepard and we will try to do our best to help you”.  
Carol and John left the tent “ So, Faith, did she knew about Rush before?” Carol asked.  
“ You mean, if she heard him from someone. If that’s what you are asking then no” John said.  
Carol looked confused “ Oh, what do you mean by that... does she have supernatural powers or something?”.  
“ Yeah, kind of, if you want to put it that way... It’s the bliss, you saw it before. I don’t know how to describe it so yeah” John said. Carol looked at his face and saw that he wasn’t kidding.

“ For some reason I’m not surprised” Carol said. They saw Joseph approaching towards them “ I heard that the twins cause you some troubles. But you seem fine... no not just fine, you look much better than the last time I saw you”.  
“ It’s all thanks to you Joseph. If it weren’t for that gift, I would surely be dead” Carol said.  
“ I don’t think it was just the gift. The lord has still need of you” Joseph said.   
Carol looked confused “ I guess so...Well there is something we need to discuss. It’s about Ethan”   
“ Oh? He hasn’t returned yet...” Joseph said and looked both at Carol and John.   
“ Our leader Rush wants to speak with you. We need to make a plan if the twins decides to attack here” Carol said.  
“ The highwaymen can’t reach here. Faith will stop them” Joseph said.  
“ We can’t just rely on her! Ethan has turned his back on us and who knows what he is plotting against us!” John said.  
“ Ethan will not turn his back on us” Joseph said.  
Carol sighed deeply “Okay, well even without Ethan, they are really strong and they will target this place soon. We need a plan”. 

“ Hey Captain! Rush is asking for you!” Faith shouted from the tent.   
Carol turned her head to Faith “ I’ll be right there!” she shouted back and then turned her head back to Joseph “ He is waiting for us”. They went inside the tent and saw Rush sitting on the ground.  
“ How are you feeling Rush?” Carol asked.  
“ A lot better, thanks to her... uhh.. your name was Faith right?”   
Faith nod her head “ You are very welcome”.  
“ The friend of our shepard is also our friend but I guess you two are no longer a friend, you two become partners for life” Joseph said.   
“ It seems like the word got out too fast. Even the twins knew about your mariage proposal” Carol said.  
“ Faith and I saw when Rush was proposing to you” Joseph said.  
“ Hey, that’s invasion of privacy you know!” Carol said.

Faith giggled “ Sorry, that wasn’t our intention. We were just curious... Oh and I’m happy to see you both together, it seems like you two are perfect for each other”.  
“ Thank you Faith. Well we have more important things to talk about” Rush said and turned to Joseph “ Kyrie told me that the highwaymen that attacked Carol and her used sleep darts. She also told me that you guys are the only one that uses sleep dart... She also told me that someone from here might betray you”.  
“ That is troubling to hear. That person Kyrie speaks of is Ethan and he is my son” Joseph said.  
Rush looked confused “ Your son? Why would he turn his back on you?”.  
“ He didn’t liked the idea of Joseph returning. It seemed like he wanted New Eden all to himself.” Carol said.   
“ If it were up to him, he would have get rid of us as well. No wonder he didn’t made any effort to look for our Judge” John said.   
Joseph looked guilty “ I wasn’t a good father to him. It’s all my fault...”.  
“ Don’t just blame yourself brother. We should have helped you but we didn’t” John said.  
“ What are we gonna do now? This makes everything more difficult now, he knows this place, all of you are in danger” Rush said and then added “ The twins will surely come after you. They will seek out the secret of New Eden”.

“ We will not let them enter here” Jacob said. He was standing infront of tent with Maria. They entered inside.“ I have a stash of weapons hidden in a bunker. We should o and get them”   
Joseph looked startled “ Hidden stash of weapons? Jacob, I told you to get rid of them!”.  
Jacob smirked “ And what would happen if I got rid of them? We need those weapons, we can’t fight against the highwaymen with sticks and bows”.  
“ Well it worked before...” Joseph tried to protest but Jacob wasn’t conviced “ Are you trying to get your people killed brother? You know what we need to do”.  
“ Jacob is right. We really need those weapons. I know the location, I’ll go and get them” Maria said.  
“ What are we going to do about Twins? We can’t just wait them to attack us” Carol said.   
“ Find a guy named Irwin, he seems to be close to the twins. Yes, he is a highwaymen but he is not a big fan of the twins so you should be okay approaching him Captain” Maria said.   
“ I’ll look go and look for this Irwin then. What are you gonna do Rush, heading back to Prosperity?” Carol asked.  
Rush looked at Joseph and Jacob “ If it’s okay with you, I would like to stay and help for fortifying the defense here. Kim and Nick can handle Prosperity and besides, we know that twins are going to target here next”   
“ You are welcome to stay here” Joseph said.   
Rush turned to Carol “ Good luck Captain, and please bring some good news”.  
“ I’ll try my best Rush” Carol said and left the tent. 

A few seconds later she started feeling awful and her head startted spinning. She decided to sat on the ground because she thought she would faint if she took another step. “ What... what the hell... is happening to me...” she murmured. She thought maybe she was feeling this way because of earlier but... it didn’t feel right. She thought something else was going on. Maria exit the tent and sat next to Carol.  
“ Hey Carol, I thought you would head out by now. Are you okay?” she asked.   
“ Honestly I don’t know... I just feel awful. I feel like throwing up” Carol said.  
Maria looked anxious and then she asked “ Huh. I hope this is okay to ask but have you had your period yet?”.  
“Oh... I think, no... I think it’s late too” Carol said and then started getting anxious “ Oh you don’t think... no, no way”. She started thinking and then she realized that it was possible. “ I... shit, I think I’m pregnant”.  
“ Carol this is amazing but not the right time” Maria said then asked “ What are you gonna do?”.  
“ Shit, I can’t tell Rush, not right now at least. He would be so worried”.  
“ Wait, maybe you are not pregnant and you might just be ill something...”  
“ I’ll head to prosperity, I think Selene will help me out. And I’ll ask Kim what to do”   
“ Good call. Be careful Captain”.

“ Soo Captain I have some news for you, I don’t know if I would call it good or bad” Selene said. Carol was laying on a bed and Kim was sitting next to her.   
“ What did you find Selene? Is she pregnant?” Kim asked.  
“ Yes” Selene said.  
Kim looked worried “ Shit. If it were to happen any other time, I would be so happy for you Captain” then she turned her head to Carol “ But I feel frightened. I’m worried that something might happen to your unborn baby”.  
“ I’m worried too Kim. But I have to do what I need to do, I can’t back down now. Not when we are so close to destroying the highwaymen and killing the twins” Carol said.  
Kim sighed “ I know. Just be extra careful from now on. No sudden actions and no sacrificing yourself for someone, you are carrying another life now” then she asked “Are you gonna tell Rush?”  
“ No, not now. I don’t want to make him worry. And please, don’t tell anyone about this. You too Selene”.  
“ Don’t worry Captain, we will keep your secret” Selene said.   
“ Let’s hope that the things will come to an end soon.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ What the fuck was that Ethan?” Lou shouted. Ethan was sitting down and the twins were looking down on him while waiting for an explanation.  
“ That’s the gift of New Eden. I told you about it and you didn’t believe me” Ethan said.  
“ Shit. She almost killed us! You need to give us that thing!” Mickey said.  
“ You can have it. But like I said, you have to do what I asked, you have to burn New Eden to the ground” Ethan said.  
“ That’s easy!” Lou said.  
Ethan stood up “ No, you have to do it now! They must be getting ready for an attack now. I’ll try to make them open the gate and take out Faith”.  
Mickey and Lou looked at each other then turned back to Ethan “ Okay, we will get ready to attack” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hewwo everyone, I hope y'all enjoying the fic so far. It kinda feels like the fic is coming to an end... I don't know if I want to add something else that isn't in canon...  
> I'll think about it...  
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated! <3


End file.
